Wow! What a Detour

I left for Arizona at 6:30 on Thursday morning. I planned to travel to Liberal, KS on the first day and then the rest of the way on Friday.

I was making great time - on those directions you can see that the estimated time is 12 hours- probably only taking 11 hours to get to Scottsdale. Unfortunately I ran into the worst detour in the history of detours. Again, take a look at those directions and find Jakes Corner, AZ on it. There was an accident on Highway 87 near Sunflower, AZ and that closed down the highway. The detour rerouted us towards Jakes Corner and then down to Roosevelt, AZ. That's where the true chaos began.

The road from Roosevelt to Tortilla Flat is a mountain pass road and a dirt road. To add to the difficulty, I was driving into the sun, which limited visibility at times. Just take a look at some of the pictures I took - I was only driving 10 mph so I could snap a few pictures.

Driving into the sun with a windshield full of bugs and dirt made visibility bad. Many times, I had to roll down my window and stick my head outside so I could see the road.



Several 1-lane bridges on this road. Further down you'll see a truck stuck because the turn into a 1-lane bridge was too sharp.



Definitely a scenic drive - just easier to do it in a truck.



Next 2 pictures are of a truck that got stuck. He tried backing up and straightening out, but eventually let us pass - instead of waiting. I was the 3rd car in line and I bet about 20 were behind me.





Driving into a canyon, with a 1-lane bridge up ahead.



Another pretty view.



Finally pavement. Still several miles of curves, but at least no more dirt on my car.



I've got some pictures of my car - full of dirt and dust, but I'll post those next time.

I don't have anymore golf tournaments this fall, but my final one in Nebraska ended up with a T-23rd. I shot 3 over 74 on the last day, which was one of the windiest I played all summer.

Neil

NE State Open Rd 2

Shot a 69 in round 2. Had 2 three putt bogies and got a bit unlucky with the wind kicking up on my back nine. If I had been on the other nine with the stronger wind, it would've been easier. Instead, on my side two of the toughest holes were made tougher with a cross wind and dead into the wind. The short par 5 on that side was also dead into the wind so that wasn't reachable. Oh well - you can't complain about the weather or your pairing, it's just pure luck.

Today is going to be extremely windy, and out of the same direction as yesterday. That will make the final round difficult for everybody - especially when you add in final round pin locations.

Last tournament of '08. After this I'll start preparing to move to Arizona for the winter.


Neil

NE State Open Round 1

I shot a first round 70, which is 1-under par. I walked off of the course upset because I didn't take advantage of many shots today. Hit plenty of greens and had plenty of chances to make birdies, but almost all of the putts I missed were over-read.

After missing 8 straight putts on the high side, I made a slight adjustment which lead to birdies on 16 and 17.

I guess the score could've been worse, but I'm disappointed I didn't shoot a 67 or 68 today.

One of the guys I played with made a hole-in-one today. He knocked it in on the 140 yard par-3 11th hole. The ball landed about 5 feet right of the hole, but it spun left and disappeared. I've never written a one down on a tournament scorecard - it was kind of weird checking the hole-by-hole scores after the round.

My second round tee-time is 2:40 on Saturday.

Neil

Dakotas Tour Bonus Money

I found out today that I will receive a much bigger than expected bonus check from the Dakotas Tour. I finished t-11th in points and I assumed that meant I would split the 11th place bonus check. That would've amounted to about $460. However, you have to play in 7 of the 8 major tournaments to be eligible for a bonus check.

Those 8 majors were:

South Dakota State Open
Aberdeen Pro-Am
Marshall Charity Pro-Am
Hillcrest Invitational Pro-Am
Arrowhead Pro-Am
Minot Western ND Pro-Am
North Dakota State Open
Dakotas Tour Championship

The only major I didn't play in was in Minot. Also, if you look at those results you'll see that I made a check in 6 of the 7 majors I played in. That explains why I made more money than some of the guys who earned more points than me. I played better in the 3 or 4 day events where more money was up for grabs and they earned points in the 1 or 2 day events where money was much smaller.

Whatever the reasoning behind my place on the points/money list, I'm excited to be receiving a bonus of $1068.75.

I have the Nebraska State Open this weekend so check back for results on Friday.

Neil

Dakotas Tour Championship and CVGA Championship

A final round 70 in Hankinson, ND placed me in a tie for 13th. After a successful two months on the Dakotas Tour I finished 9th on the money list and t-11th on the points list. I think that t-11th on the points list will earn me a little bit of bonus money, but probably not much more than a few hundred dollars.

This past weekend I played over in Eau Claire at the CVGA Tournament of Champions. No hope of winning player of the year this year because I didn't play in enough events.

For the third straight year, I finished 2nd and for the second straight year I shot 139.

Next weekend I'm off to Nebraska for the NE State Open.

Neil

Dakotas Tour Championship Round 2

Shot 76 in round 2. Got off to a bad start and when the wind started blowing 30-40 mph I was just trying to run in place.

Final round is Friday morning. It's going to be very windy again, so I hope to control my ball better and finish with a good round.

Neil

A Group Like I've Never Played In

Let me begin with some basics - I hit last on 12 of the 18 tee boxes during the round. And until I made the last putt on 18, I had the worst score in my group.




What did I shoot? - 64

The other two guys shot 63 and 65. We had 23 birdies and 2 eagles between the three of us (I had both of the eagles). Mr. 63 had one bogey and Mr. 65 had two bogies (plus a penalty stroke - where he still made par).

As a group we all birdied 1, 7, and we played 13 4-under. I shot 33 on the front nine and was losing by 2 shots to both players. Amazingly, we all pared 10, 11, and 12. But those three holes and number 2 were the only 4 holes during the entire round that our group didn't have at least one birdie on a hole.

Second round is Thursday morning and I'll play with the same two guys. The toughest thing about tomorrow will be bouncing back after a low round. It is often difficult to play well the next day - you're expecting things to be just as easy as the previous day. I'm going into the day knowing about this hurdle so hopefully I can play another great round.


Neil

Final Round - ND State Open

I played the first 12 holes like I was still asleep. Once I woke up, the damage had already been done. I shot a final round 76.

I've got 2 days off before the final event on the Dakotas Tour.

Neil

Fargo CC - Round 2

Shot a 1-under 71 in round 2. Leader is at 11-under through 2 rounds so I'm 8 shots back. Long way to go, but tomorrow the course will play about 400 yards longer and the pins should be the toughest we've seen all weekend. Basically, the course will be playing a lot tougher than it has the first two days.

Neil

WI State Open & ND State Open

Never got anything going at Eau Claire CC. Shot 73-72 in the final 2 rounds to finish T10th. Never got to 2-under par during a round and never struggled enough to be 4-over par. It was just 4 rounds of making pars - with a few bogies and an occasional birdie sprinkled in.

Shot a 2-under 70 in Fargo for the first round of the ND State Open. Made 2 birdies and 16 pars.

My second round is this afternoon.

Neil